On Friday, Ali Aghamohammadi, the Ahmadinejad Administration’s head of economic affairs was quoted in IRNA, a state-run news agency that Iran was working on a “halal Internet.”

“Iran will soon create an internet that conforms to Islamic principles, to improve its communication and trade links with the world,” he said, apparently explaining that the new network would operate in parallel to the regular Internet and would possibly eventually replace the open Internet in Muslim countries in the regions.

“We can describe it as a genuinely ‘halal’ network aimed at Muslims on a ethical and moral level,” he said.

“The aim of this network is to increase Iran and the Farsi language’s presence in what has become the most important source of international communication.”

In other Iranian Internet news, the commander of the Iranian civil defence organisation, Gholam Reza Jalali was also quoted in IRNA on Saturday that Iran believes the United States and Israel were behind the creation of the Stuxnet worm.

“Investigations and studies show that the source of Stuxnet originates from America and the Zionist regime,” he said.

In the same IRNA interview, Jalali was also quoted as saying that Iran was creating the “1390 Program” — 1390 being the current year in the Persian calendar — which would add six cyberdefense master’s degree programs and one doctoral program across various Iranian universities.

“The final solution to problems of [cyberdefense and the] formation of Jihad, is to achieve economic self-sufficiency in the production of basic software such as operating systems and software,” he said.

[…] The Internet of Elsewhere » Blog Archive » Iran announces ‘halal Internet,’ …"“Iran will soon create an internet that conforms to Islamic principles, to improve its communication and trade links with the world,” he said, apparently explaining that the new network would operate in parallel to the regular Internet and would possibly eventually replace the open Internet in Muslim countries in the regions."(tags:net war pol ) […]

[…] fact be a way to counter the EU censorship. Ali Aghamohammadi, Iran's head of economic affairs, has gone on record saying that the country intends to launch an Islamic "halal" edition of the internet. The […]

[…] of saying that it would be countering American Internet freedom policies and would be stepping up graduate-level cyberdefense programs. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. « No American firms sell […]

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Cyrus Farivar's The Internet of Elsewhere (Rutgers University Press, May 2011), is a book about the history and effects of the Internet in Senegal, South Korea, Estonia and Iran.

Advance Praise

“Cyrus Farivar has written a brilliant first book. He has the thoughtful pen of a novelist, the observational zeal of an investigative journalist, and the insight of an experienced technologist.”Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

“Cyrus Farivar’s skill as a perceptive analyst and captivating storyteller lets us see the future of a connected world through his seasoned eyes.”

Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University

“Cyrus Farivar, a great friend of Estonia, has chronicled my country's recent and unprecedented technological history with this exceptional book. He understands not only what Estonia can teach the rest of the world, but moreover, he makes the insightful case for the necessity of modern global citizens to understand crucial Internet issues.”The Honorable Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia